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Lean times affect travel

Thanksgiving trips up just a bit; Americans sniff out deals

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REUTERSMany of the people hitting the road for the Thanksgiving holiday planned to ride the bus. These people waited yesterday to board a BoltBus outside Penn Station in New York City.

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By Jason KeyserASSOCIATED PRESS • Thursday November 22, 2012 6:45 AM

CHICAGO — Millions of Americans piled their families into cars, hopped on buses and waited out
delays at airports yesterday as they set off on Thanksgiving treks that many said required
financial sacrifice, help from relatives to come up with airfare and hours searching online for
deals.

Accepting that the road out of the recession will be long, many said they’ve become savvier or
at least hardier travelers — resilient enough to brave a daylong drive with the kids or a long haul
by bus instead of flying.Others adjusted their travel schedules to try to save money, flying on
less-popular days or to airports that were a bit farther from their destination.

The weather, along with the economy, handed setbacks to some. Heavy fog shrouded Chicago,
causing more than 1,600 delays or cancellations in and out of its two airports and sending ripples
across the nation. The effects of superstorm Sandy added to the hassle for travelers on the East
Coast.

Chris McLaughlin, a 22-year-old senior at Boston College from West Chester, Pa., had hoped to
combine his trip home for Thanksgiving with a medical-school interview in Philadelphia, but the
storm delayed his interview, so he’ll have to make an extra trip home next month. He figured that
would cost him an additional $200.

“It killed me,” McLaughlin said of the financial impact of the storm, which also left his
parents without power for eight days. “I think we were feeling we could loosen up a little bit
(financially), but with Sandy and everything that happened, (people) feel like they can’t.”

And it’s not just that family finances that are tighter. Airlines struggling to save on jet fuel
and other expenses have cut the number of flights, leading to a jump in airfares.

After a couple of years of healthy post-recession growth, Thanksgiving travel this year was
expected to be up only slightly, 0.7 percent, from last year, according to AAA’s yearly
Thanksgiving travel analysis. Among the 43.6 million Americans expected to journey 50 miles or more
between yesterday and Sunday, more were driving and fewer were flying. Their planned trips were
shorter, too, by about 120 miles on average, the travel organization said.

As car ownership declines among younger Americans, many of those hitting the road were jumping
onto buses. Intercity bus service has grown in recent years with curbside companies like
Megabus.

Aided by smartphone apps, social media and other technology, consumers are getting better at
sniffing out deals and realize they need to be flexible with dates and even the airports they chose
when booking, said Courtney Scott, a senior editor at Travelocity.